


But You’ve Got Stars, They’re in Your Eyes

by dreamboathaz



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Christmas AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gryffindor Harry, Gryffindor Liam, Hogwarts AU, Hufflepuff Niall, I wrote this a while ago, M/M, More tags to be added, Ravenclaw Zayn, Slytherin Louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-05 13:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamboathaz/pseuds/dreamboathaz
Summary: Louis began to read the letter out loud, drawing the attention of both Zayn and Liam, “Dear mum, I’m very excited to be coming home this holiday season and do all the muggle things you mentioned in the letter. It’ll be great fun. Of course I will be bringing my handsome, charismatic boyfriend. His name is Harry Styles and he’s in Gryffindor with Liam. He is very charming and I am sure you and the girls will love him. Not as much as you love Niall obviously because he’s my best friend and the most handsome boy in all of Hogwarts. I will be needing to send some pastries to Niall for the holiday, to remind him of this fact. Much love, your beloved son, Lou-Bear.” Louis looked up from the letter, “I am not sending this to my mother.”ORLouis lies and tells his mum that he has a boyfriend and she invites him over for their Christmas break. Instead of admitting his lie, Louis decided to rope in cherub Gryffindor boy Harry Styles as his boyfriend for the holidays, much to the boy's delight.





	1. Chapter 1

But You’ve Got Stars, They’re in Your Eyes

Chapter One

“Stop tapping your quill, I’m trying to do some work here!” Niall whined, voice just above a whisper, lifting his head from where he was bent over a History of Magic textbook, piece of blank parchment beside him. There were sitting in the library, which was filled with thousands of shelves in hundreds of narrow rows, tables pushed in between. It was deathly quiet, no one interested in facing the wrath of the vulturelike women who ran the library.

Louis looked up from where he was tapping his quill against the corner of blank parchment, stopping it in midair. “You are not! You drew Liam with Dumbledore’s beard!” He protested, trying to look stern but failing. Liam’s head snapped up from his transfiguration textbook, _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ by _Emeric Switch_.

“What the hell, mate?” Liam snatched the paper from Niall, gasping at it.

Niall snatched it back, “Hey! Get your own drawing! I put a lot of effort into this!” He shoved the paper into the paged of his textbook, effectively hiding it from sight.

Liam rolled his eyes, “You should be concentrating on History of Magic, not me with a Dumbledore beard,” he rolled his eyes and disappeared behind his book again.

A satchel dropped onto the table between Niall and Louis and across from Liam, “What’cha doing?” It was Zayn, his dark hair buzzed close to his head and his blue tie hanging loose from his neck. He dropped into the chair, pulling out his The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7 text from his bag.

Zeroing in on the textbook, Niall leaned over, “Did we have homework from Defence?”

“No, we have the quiz tomorrow,” Zayn answered, looking unperturbed. “Are you not done your History of Magic essay?”

“We have a quiz? Oh, Merlin’s beard!” Niall dropped his forehead onto his textbook, groaning like he got punched in the stomach.

Zayn sighed, “Here, have my notes.” He pulled a bundle of paper from his satchel and Niall snatched it from his hands like it was the Holy Grail.

“Thank you! Thank you, Zayn! You’re the best mate I could ever ask for!” Niall gave Liam and Louis pointed glares before he started Zayn’s beautifully handwritten notes with gusto.

Turning to Louis, Zayn inspected the papers in front of him, “What are you working on Lou?”

“My death,” Louis responded dramatically, pushing a letter over for Zayn to read.

Rolling his eyes, Zayn picked up the letter and began to read it. “This is a letter from your mum,” he pointed out, tossing the letter back onto the table with Louis’s books.

“Yes, yes, I know that. But did you read the line where she asks me to bring my boyfriend? The boyfriend I don’t have?”

“Yeah, I did think that was a bit curious.”

Louis groaned and rested his cheeks against his fists, “This is bullocks! How am I suppose to tell my mom I lied about having a boyfriend? That I’ve been lying for months? She’s going to be so upset if I head home for Christmas and don’t bring him along.”

Liam looked up from his book “Well, what are you suppose to do, Lou? Bring a fake boyfriend? You should just tell her you guys broke up. Or you could tell her the truth that you lied.” The last sentence sounded very scolding, a tone Louis was used too from Liam.

“That’s a rubbish idea,” Louis dismissed. “Someone give me a good idea!”

The table lapsed into silence for about a minute and half, nothing but the sound of Niall’s quill scribbling on parchment. Liam sighed and went back to his book, shaking his head.

“No, you do not give up on me Liam. Use that brain for something actually usefully.” Louis shoved his face close to Liam, who didn’t even look up from his book, merely pressing his palm against Louis’s forehead and pushing him away. Louis whined and tried to push against his head, in vain.

“Oi, I fixed it.” Niall took the piece of the parchment he was writing on and slid it over to Louis, who shoved away from Liam’s hand to snatch it up.

Louis began to read the letter out loud, drawing the attention of both Zayn and Liam, “Dear mum, I’m very excited to be coming home this holiday season and do all the muggle things you mentioned in the letter. It’ll be great fun. Of course I will be bringing my handsome, charismatic boyfriend. His name is Harry Styles and he’s in Gryffindor with Liam. He is very charming and I am sure you and the girls will love him. Not as much as you love Niall obviously because he’s my best friend and the most handsome boy in all of Hogwarts. I will be needing to send some pastries to Niall for the holiday, to remind him of this fact. Much love, your beloved son, Lou-Bear.” Louis looked up from the letter, “I am not sending this to my mother.”

Niall pointed a finger at him, “Okay, but imagine this. You do send it.” He snapped his fingers for effect.

Louis’s lips flattened into an unimpressed line, “No. Who is this Harry bloke, anyways?” He waved the paper at him. “You got a crush on him yourself Niall?” Louis grinned impishly.

“What!? No! Ugh, Lou! You know Harry! Tall lad, lots of curls. Looks a bit like a cherub. Very popular with the ladies. He’s perfect for you!” Niall described, waving a hand in the air like it was obvious who Harry was.

“Yes, because when I think ‘popular with the ladies’ I think, ‘oh, my soulmate’!” Louis deadpanned.

Sighing, Niall crossed his arms, “Liam, help a brother out.” He waved a hand at him.

Louis glanced over at Liam, who nodded, “He’s in my dorm, Lou. He’s really nice. Really sweet. He’s from a pureblood family and has exceptionally high marks. He tried out for Quidditch but’s not really meant to be up in the air… Great lad though!” Liam chirped, his tone encouraging.

“So you think I should just go up to your housemate and tell him, ‘Oi, Harry, mate, we’ve never met but I wrote a letter to my mum telling her we were dating and I’m suppose to bring you home for the holidays. You’ll do it won’t you? Can’t break my mum’s heart!’ How is that suppose to turn out? He doesn’t want to spend the holidays with a family he doesn’t know. A muggle family, at that!”

Liam shook his head, “You’re not giving him enough credit, Lou. I’m sure he’d love to help you out,” he hesitated, “Not that I’m condoning this or anything.”

“You totally are!” Zayn snickered, “Well, mate, looks like you’ve got yourself a date!”

Folding his letter carefully and grabbing Louis’s envelope, Niall sealed it up and began to write Louis’s home address on the back of it. “That’s all sorted Lou! You gotta ask your man out and I need to write this damned essay and we should all be good!” Louis groaned, barely catching the sealed envelope when Niall threw it back at him.

Sighing, Louis inspected the envelope and Niall’s messy scrawl on the back, “Fine. But when this turns out bad, I’m eating all the pastries-,” Niall gasped, clutching at his chest, “And transferring to Beauxbatons. I bet they’re nicer there.”

“Sure, Lou,” Zayn snorted, “Like you’d survive there.” Louis pouted but pulled out his books.

.

Lunch time was a very casual affair, especially before a trip to Hogsmeade. After the Third Wizarding War, the school became way more relaxed with rules about the houses, allowing more inter-house mingling, especially during breakfast and lunch time which worked ideally for Louis and his friends.

Sitting at the table that was usually the Gryffindors during dinner, Louis cut up his Cornish pasties with side of his fork, humming. “You know Niall…” He began absently. Niall, who had shoved a mouthful of Shepherd’s pie into his mouth, froze. “You never told us how you met Harry,” he pointed out.

Niall let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back his head, “W-What? Of course I have!”

Liam, who was sitting beside Louis and across from Niall, looked up in thought, a frown on his face, “No, you haven’t. I’m actually curious to know too.”

“I have told! I have definitely told you this story!”

Zayn looked up from his sketchpad, sipping his pumpkin juice, “Well, mate, even if you have, we’d like to hear it again.”

Niall let out another belly laugh, sounding just as nervous as the first one and looked around frantically. “Oh! Babs! Hey! You look lovely and like you’re not going to ask me things!” Grabbing his fork and plate, Niall shot up from the bench and chased after the other Hufflepuff, who beamed at the sight of him.

Swallowing his food, Louis’s eyes narrowed, “That’s not weird or anything…”

“Do you think Harry saw him wanking or something?” Zayn asked, watching the Hufflepuffs.

“Oooh, I like that theory!” Louis chirped, “Wanna make bets?”

Zayn snorted, “Of course! What do you think this is, amateur hour? I’m gonna bet a galleon on my wanking theory.”

“Alright,” Louis agreed, chewing his lip, trying to think of a theory for himself.

“Oh!” Liam perked up, “How about this, they met because Niall was sleeping with his sister?”

“Nice, that’s a good one, Li!” Zayn high-fived the Gryffindor.

Louis patted him on the back, “Aww, that is a good one,” he pouted, “A galleon?” Liam nodded. “Alright, just me then. Uhhhh… Ah ha! Okay, my theory is that they met while drunk-,” Zayn and Liam gave him unimpressed looks but he waved them off, “And they started making out.”

“Much better,” Zayn conceded, “Galleon?”

Louis nodded, “Of course.”

Liam grinned, “Sounds good. May the best man win.”

.

The Three Broomsticks was a pub and inn located in Hogsmeade. It was usually crowded, especially during the Hogsmeade weekends Hogwarts had. Despite the fact it was a bit smoky, it was clean and welcoming, a huge mirror behind the bar that reflects the cozy interior.

In a corner booth, Louis was slumped in his seat, a tankard of hot foaming butterbeer clasped between his hands. Zayn and Niall were on either side of him with Liam on the far side of Zayn. The pub was filled with students, their voices overlapping and competing with each other in the small quarters.

“Which one is he?” Louis asked out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes zeroed in on the bustling patrons.

Niall sighed, “That one, Lou! Come on! He’s the curly lad.”

It was hard to spot one specific curly lad in a crowded pub but Louis managed to do it. Luckily, the lad in question was tall, way taller than Louis, and his hair was indeed very curly. Louis bet it was soft too. He looked like the kind of boy who took good care of himself and it made him indefinitely cuter in Louis’s eyes.

“Ooooh! He is cute!” Louis gushed, sitting up straighter and leaning over the table, as if it would make the boy easier to see in the crowd. Zayn put a hand on his chest and pushed him back so he didn’t look so eager.

“Yes, he's cute and very sweet. Don’t go polluting him!” Liam warned, leaning around Zayn.

Gulping back a mouthful of butterbeer, Louis laughed, “Oh Liam. My sweet, innocent Liam.” His tongue swiped along his upper lip to collect the foam leftover from his drink and, as if Harry knew they were talking about him, he looked over. Louis and him made eye contact just as Louis took his finger to collect the last bit of foam and pop it in his mouth. When their eye’s met, Louis felt frozen but that didn’t stop him from sucking on his finger obscenely. Harry’s eyes widened, zeroing in at the sight of Louis sucking on his own finger and that was enough to encourage Louis to unfreeze and pop his finger out of his mouth.

“Bloody hell!” Niall gasped, “You guy’s are going to make beautiful babies together. The sexual tension is already too much.” He fanned himself with his hand over dramatically.

Face burning, Louis elbowed Niall, not taking his eyes off of Harry, “Shut up. I want the ground to literally open up and swallow me.”

“I know _someone_ who’d be willing to open up and swallow you…” Zayn muttered. Niall snickered.

Licking his lips, face flushed pleasantly, Harry flashed Louis a quick smile before he turned and hurriedly disappeared into the crowd. “Fuck, I scared him off!” Louis gasped. 

Niall laughed, “No way! I’m pretty sure you’ve made the perfect conversation opener. ‘Hey Harry, remember when I gave you boner when you saw me sucking my finger? Well, how about we take that a step further and you become my fake boyfriend this holiday season.’ See? Perfect.”

Zayn, drinking from his own tankard of steaming butterbeer, leaned over to look at Niall, “How is that the next step? Eye-fucking to fake dating is not the natural line of progression here.”

Waving his hand, Niall scoffed, “You know nothing of fake relationships, Malik. Leave this to the expert. Oh shit, he’s leaving! Let’s go, boys!”

“I’m not leaving my drink,” Zayn deadpanned.

Louis chugged the rest of his tankard, the top of his mouth burning. Slamming the tankard down, he declared, “I’m good. Let’s go Niall!” He began to push the blond out of the booth, the two of them stumbling over their feet in their hurry to get out of the seats. “Liam, be a doll and pay for us, yeah?” Louis didn’t so much ask as he did tell the boy, hurrying away from the table with an absent wave over his shoulder and Niall gripping his jacket to keep close.

“Lou!” Liam protested but the boys disappeared into the crowd, fighting their way through to the front doors.

Falling out the door, Louis spotted the curly haired boy walking with a ginger boy. “Shit, where do you think they’re going?”

Niall tugged on him, encouraging him to start trotting after the pair. “Looks like Honeydukes. They’ll probably stop at Zonko’s too. Hopefully.” Keeping a reasonable amount of space between them, Louis watched Harry and his ginger friend enter the bright green door. The place was absolutely packed and Louis imaged that everyone was stocking up for the holidays.

“Do you think I should buy some sweets for my family?” He wondered out loud. He glanced over and saw Niall glaring at him. “What?”

“That’s not important right now, Lou! What’s important is that your boyfriend is in Honeydukes and you need to get in there and woo him some more!” Niall shoved Louis forward until they were outside the large front window, peering in.

“Whose with him though? His other fake boyfriend?”

“Nah, that’s Ed. He’s in our year, don’t know how you don’t know him. You should get out more, Lou. He’s a nice lad. Oh, look! Exploding bon-bons!”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Let’s buy some stuff, yeah?” He barely had the door open before Niall burst into the shop, grabbing everything in sight and disappearing into the crowd. Groaning, Louis followed after him.

Honeydukes really was a beautiful place. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent looking sweets imaginable. There were creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolates in neat rows. There was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans and another of Fizzing whizzes, the levitating sherbet balls. On another wall was Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days) and the weird, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints which flossed one’s teeth when sucked. Along with that were tiny black Pepper Imps (‘breathe fire for your friends!’), Ice Mice (‘hear your teeth chatter and squeak!’), peppermint shaped like toads (‘hop realistically in the stomach!’), fragile sugar-spun quills and of course, exploding bon-bons.

Pushing threw the thick crowd and keeping an eye out for Harry, Louis debated what he wanted to get his sisters. He decided to go the safe route, grabbing Fizzing Whizzbees, chocolate frogs, mice pops, liquorice wands, glacial snow flakes and chocolate wands. For himself he bought Peppermint Imps, salt water taffy, a chocolate frog and a sugar quill. Too hot in the stuffy store, Louis rushed and managed to find all of his purchases, pay and get out of Honeydukes in record time, even beating Niall.

Sighing and scuffing his shoes in the snow, Louis leaned against the side of the building, spotting his friend’s vibrant blond hair moving about inside. Digging through his bag, he grabbed a sugar quill -it was green- and ripped the packaging away, stuffing it in his pocket. Absently, Louis began to lick the delicious treat, the tips of his fingers growing cold from being out of his pocket. He didn’t care though, too interested in his treat. A couple of girls shoved their way out of the store, eating chocolate wands and laughing. Louis shuffled out of their way, his shoulders hunching against the cool air.

“Nialllllll,” Louis whined to himself, “Where are you?” It was a dumb question because he knew exactly where he was. Angrily, he licked the sugar quill more ferociously.

A trio of third years emerged from the doorway, arms filled with sweets, grinning from ear to ear and rushing to Zonko’s. Louis hummed and popped the top of the quill into his mouth, running his tongue along the bottom of it and slurping noisily. The door opened again and Louis looked up, hoping it was Niall.

Of course, it wasn’t. It was Harry, blinking at him and the sugar quill he was moaning around. Louis was too stunned to even pull the treat from his mouth, his lips numb. Harry’s mouth fell open and his face turned red and he managed to give him a polite smile before hurrying away, Ed swinging open the door after him and rushing to catch up to Harry’s long gait.

Louis managed to pull the sugar quill from his mouth, “Oh fuck.”

Niall popped out of the shop, “Did you just deep throat that sugar quill will making steamy eye contact with Harry?” He asked, giddy.

“I need to go home immediately. I’m a disaster.” He licked at his sugar quill sadly.

“Lou, this is the best day of my life. Get your ass to Zonko’s.” Niall grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

“Niall, he will now think of me as the kid with the weird oral fixation,” Louis lamented. “I won’t be able to recover from his and ask him to be my fake boyfriend.”

Peering through Zonko’s store front window to spot Harry, Niall replied heatedly, “I’m absolutely sure there are worst things than your boyfriend thinking you have an oral fixation. You can and you will recover. I’m the best magical matchmaker this side of Hogwarts. Trust me on this, Lou. You’ll take that curly lad home with you and feed him muggle sweets and blow him like a sugar quill on your childhood bed and make snowmen of your future children and your family will love him like one of their own. You got it?”

Louis hummed, “Yah know Niall, you’re descriptions are pretty… _descript_. You should become a writer or sometin’.”

“Lou, there’s just so much Niall to go around I think it would be unfair for me to choose just one profession,” Niall answered sagely, causing Louis to laugh. “You wait here, Lou. I wanna buy a nose biting tea-cup for Liam.” Louis cocked a brow. “He’s not going to know that’s what it is!” Niall replied, rushing into the store.

Louis groaned and pressed his face against the window, peering in at the joke toys that had everything from Anti Gravity Hats (‘ruin a gentlemen’s day by making his hat fly away!’) to Magical Moustache Miracle Stubble Grow to even the eclectic U-No-Poo (the constipation sensation that was sweeping the nation!).

Immediately Louis spotted Harry, picking at the Headless Hats. They were small hats covered in pink feathers. Louis wasn't sure how they worked but when Harry sat it upon his lovely hair, his head disappeared. Ed and Harry burst out laughing at the effect, Louis only being able to tell by the shaking of Harry’s body.

Harry took the hat off and he and Ed continued looking through the store. Harry stopped at the stand of fireworks, inspecting the different kinds they had, including Diabolic Dare Devils, Peace Disturbers, and Thor’s Thunder Cracker. He continued on and stopped at a violently pink display that declared WonderWitch on the top. A pink glow cast along his face as he inspected the products and Louis smiled fondly at the sight. Harry picked up the First Love Beguiling Bubbles, inspecting the bottle curiously. He smiled and he must have realized someone was watching because his head snapped up and he made eye contact with Louis through the window.

Caught, Louis managed a smile and slight wave. Harry beamed at him and managed his own wave, before he ducked his head, brushing his hair behind his hair, shyly. Biting his lip, Louis admired the boy, not even noticing Niall exiting the store and walking up to him with a fanged frisbee, nose biting teacup and a boxing telescope.

Louis raised an eyebrow, “What are you going to do with a boxing telescope?”

“Use it to protect my porn,” Niall answered without even hesitating. Louis laughed.

If Louis had looked back into the store, he would have seen Harry watching him with enamoured, deep green eyes. 

.

“I can’t believe we don’t have a Quidditch game until February. What am I suppose to do with all my spare time?” Louis was sitting perched on his broom, a Starsweeper XXI, hovering in front of the bleachers in the Quidditch pitch. It was the day (or rather, evening) after the Hogsmeade trip and sitting in the Gryffindor bleachers was Liam, who had a book opened in his lap, Niall, and Zayn. Zayn was wearing a large dark blue sweater and his Ravenclaw robe which was closed over the bulky sweater. His scarf was wrapped multiple times around his face and the hood of his robe was pulled up, effecting hiding him from the cool air.

Liam scoffed, “Oh, I don’t know, you could maybe study? Read a book?”

Doing a flip on his broom like it was second nature, Louis laughed, “Sensible ideas only, please.” Liam rolled his eyes and buried his nose back in his text.

“For the Captain of the Gryffindor Team, Liam sure is a buzz kill,” Niall snickered, dodging Liam’s hand swatting at him.

Zayn smirked from behind his scarf, “What are you reading, Payno? What in particular are you studying right at this moment?”

“Nothing to interest you, Malik,” Liam huffed. Zayn huffed and tried to grab at the book but Liam lifted the book out of his grasp. Niall grabbed instead, laughing.

“Men Who Love Dragons Too Much! Too much, Zayn! Too much dragon love!”

Laughing, Zayn clapped his hands, “Oh, that’s impossible! There’s never enough dragon love!”

“Dragon love! Dragon love!” The boys began to chant, laughing. 

Strategically ignoring them both, Liam snatched the book back from Niall, holding it between his knees. Liam slapped at both boys and huffed, “Firstly, just because I’m the Captain of the Quidditch team doesn’t mean I don’t know when to study. Secondly, there is nothing wrong with having a healthy interest in dragons! Also, Louis is just trying to get out of doing homework. As he said, the next match isn’t until February.”

“Lies and slander!” Louis cried out, laughing, “Lies and slander!” He flew off from where they were sitting, doing a wide circle around the Quidditch pitch. He maneuvered through the hooped goal posts before he flew back to his friends. He was wearing a thick green sweater with a sliver stripe across the chest beneath his Quidditch robe. The wind was cold, burning his cheeks red and he was thankful he was wearing his dragon hide gloves to keep his fingers warm.

“So Lou,” Niall called over the wind, “Have you spoken to lover boy yet?” He wiggled his eyebrows, his grin spreading nearly all the way up to his ears. Louis, who was still gliding along on his broom, screeched to a halt, his eyes huge. Niall laughed at his reaction, “Yes? And you made sweet love in the Slytherin common room bathed in the shimmering green light of the lake,” He described dramatically, waving his hands.

“First of all, you know way to much about my common room for a Hufflepuff. Second of all, no, I haven’t spoken to him yet. I still have to figure out what to say. It’s not exactly easy to ask someone if they’d be willing to be my pretend boyfriend for the holidays,” Louis deadpanned. Seeing Niall’s look, Louis added, “Oh, do not tell me otherwise, Blondie. I know you haven’t asked a fake boyfriend to come home for the holidays with you for, at least, the last five years.”

Niall pouted, “Touche, Lou.”

Zayn, who had his hands up by his face, piped up, “You could write him a letter. Something like, ‘will you be willing to be my fake boyfriend this Christmas season? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely?’ with three exclamation marks after absolutely.”

Louis hesitated, “Actually, that’s not a bad idea…”

Groaning, Liam threw his hands up in the air, “Louis!” he scolded. “You can’t just send him a letter. Harry owes a face to face explanation of your lies.”

“Merlin’s beard…” Niall grumbled, scooting away from Liam as if he was afraid to catch ‘goody two shoe’ cooties. Liam sighed and kicked his legs up to rest on the bench in front of them, unbothered by Niall’s whining.

Changing the subject, Louis turned to the bundled up Ravenclaw, “Zayn, buddy. Wanna release the snitch for me?” He bounced around on his broom eagerly, stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders the best he could while perched on the broom in the air.

Peeling his hands out of the arms of his robes to the lock box on his lap, Zayn said, “Yeah, sure,” from behind his scarf. He unlatched the box to reveal the golden snitch. Pulling a sleeve back over his hand, Zayn lifted the snitch out and held it out. It fluttered against the fabric before taking off, whipping through the air. Louis grinned, chasing after it.

Louis spent nearly twenty minutes chases after the snitch. His small size and quickness made him a brilliant seeker and he loved the thrill of it. He hated being cold, however, and that encouraged him to try and get the snitch faster. He caught it with a well timed turn, diving in front of the snitch just in time, the small gold ball sitting snuggly in his gloved palm.

“Hey Lou!” Niall yelled from the bleachers, “Let’s go!” Holding the snitch in his gloved hands, Louis slowly floating down towards the ground, waiting for his friends to reach the field first. He hesitated when he realized it was members if the Gryffindor team and of course, Harry. Sulking, Louis landed softly on the ground, pulling the broom up into his right hand and walking towards them.

“You’re not training already, are you, Tomlinson?” Silverman asked, the chaser of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Louis grinned, “What? Of course not! What ever would give you that impression?” He turned to Zayn, holding out the snitch, “For you, my dear,” he bowed dramatically.

Zayn gave a faux gasp, “Oh my godness! I’m absolutely breathless. My, my Mr. Tomlinson, you surely know how to treat a girl right!” He batted his eyelashes, cracking open the box that the snitch was kept in so Louis could place it in.

Louis laughed, thumping him on the back and accepting the box from the Ravenclaw’s hands.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team seemed to be looking for Liam and the boys let them take him, intending to just head back to their dormitories. Louis met Harry’s eyes again, exchanging smiles before the Gryffindors walked away. Louis followed Harry with his eyes, appreciating his broad shoulders and bouncy curls with a wistful sigh before he realized what he was doing and quickly turned away.

Following Zayn and Niall, Louis unclipped his cloak and slid off his gloves, setting them onto of the snitch box. “Ugh, I need to piss and I need to change.”

“Shower too.”

Louis looked at Zayn with a frown, “Are you telling me I stink, babe?”

Zayn looked affronted, “Why, I would never say that, darling. But, since you mentioned it…”

Gasping, Louis grabbed at his chest, “I can’t go on! I have been hurt beyond repair. Nothing can possibly fix the pain that is in my heart!” Zayn retaliating by shoving him. “AH! The pain has spread to physical violence!”

“Go piss, asshole.” Zayn ordered, pointing towards the boys lavatory. “I’m heading up to my dorm.” He cracked his neck, yawning, “See you guys tomorrow. Night.”

“Night Zayn!” Niall cheered, jumping up and hugging the boy from behind. “See you tomorrow morning, Zaynie!” He blew a kiss. Zayn laughed, bending down to let him slid down gently back to his feet. 

Louis threw his arms into the air, “Farewell my beloved! I shall power through the pain!” He called after him. He turned to his remaining friend, “Wait right here, Niall. I’ll be quick.” He handed Niall his cloak and snitch box for safe keeping.

Niall arranged the items in his arms and waved him off, leaning against the wall, “Piss swiftly, my friend.”

Rolling his eyes, Louis headed into the washroom, walking up to one of the urinals. Focused on what he was doing, he didn’t even pay attention to the boy that walked up next to him. He did pay attention to the fact he took the urinal right beside him. Who even did that? The restroom was completely empty and he took the spot right beside him. That had never happened to Louis before.

Snapping his head up, Louis frowned and was ready to browbeat whoever it was.

And Lady Luck smiled upon him because of course, it was Harry Styles.

_Oh Merlin-,_ “Hi!” Louis blurted, for lack of anything else to say, eyes wide and face burning. Harry fucking Styles was peeing right beside him. Louis wondered if he should spring the fake boyfriend thing on him while he was peeing. 

Harry whipped around to look at him, eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Instead of him just his head turning, however, his whole body turned, pee dripping onto Louis’s shoe. Louis wasn’t sure what to focus on first. The fact that Harry didn’t even know it was him, he just decided to use the urinal right beside a stranger. (What a fucking weirdo.) Or that secondly, he peed on his shoe. Louis supposed that it was good that he didn’t spring the fake boyfriend thing on him. There might have been way more pee involved.

Blinking, Louis tucked himself back into his trousers before he looked down at his shoe.

Harry gulped, “Oops?” He asked, looking terrified.

Louis, trying to cut the tension, laughed, “Good thing I’m into watersports, love,” he joked. And then he wanted to punch himself. He was a fucking disgrace. He needed to get back to the dungeons immediately.

Gulping loudly, Harry tucked himself back into his jeans, zipping up his fly. “O-Oh?”

“That was a joke! A really poor joke but a joke nonetheless! I… make bad jokes…” Louis winced. “I’m sorry.”

Harry stared at him a moment, as if he was trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. Louis’s awkward facial expressionmust have been enough for him because he broke out into a smile, his dimples showing, “Haha, it’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t imagine we’d end up talking about kinks in our first conversation with each other or that I would pee on you but I don’t mind.”

Louis grinned, “You imagined our first conversation?”

Flushing, Harry turned the facet off, shaking the access water off his hands, “Um, maybe?”

Louis copied him, “Cute,” he chuckled. Harry grinned back at him, blushing fiercely.

Drying their hands off, they walked out of the lavatory together, where Niall was standing with the snitch box and cloak Louis had passed to him. “Ugh, finally! What were you-, Oh! Well, hello!” Niall grinned widely at the sight of Harry. He looked over at Louis and began to wiggle his eyebrows like crazy. Louis was almost concerned they would fly off his face. “I hope you boys had a good time in the lav together. Pissing together. In private. With your privates.” More eyebrow wiggling. Louis could have punched him but he restrained himself.

Harry frowned, glancing between the two boys, looking very confused, turning to Louis, “Um, what-?” He began to ask but Louis rushed away from him, towards Niall. He snatched box with the snitch and his cloak.

“Well, would you look at the time! I’ve gotta blast! See you lads later!” Voice a much higher pitch than usual, Louis took off running towards the stairs, heading straight to the dungeons so he could disappear and die in peace. (He could hear Niall laughing behind him and swore vengeance.)

When he made it to the dungeons, he walked up to the stone wall and said, “Emrys.” The wall opened up to reveal the passage, which he skulked into, catching his breath.

“Lou!” His head snapped up at the sound of his name to see Perrie sprawled on one of the leather sofas, a letter in hand. She waved it excitedly, “I didn’t know you were dating that Gryffindor boy, Harry!” (How the fuck did she find his letter?)

All the fight in him gone, Louis groaned and made his way over to her, falling onto the couch with his head in her lap, “It’s a complicated story.”

.

“Making a list. Checking it twice. Gonna find out whose naughty and-,”

“I know.”

Louis froze, his quill blotting on the paper and he quickly pulled it away. He had been writing a list of things he wanted to get his sisters, lots of items already checked off. And of course, nothing went better with writing a Christmas checklist then some muggle Christmas carols or, apparently, Harry Styles who decided to drop himself across the table from him.

Looking around, Louis didn’t spot any of his friends in the Great Hall so his mind immediately went into excuse mode, trying to think of a way to get away from the cute as a button Gryffindor.

“Know what?” He asked, chewing his lip but trying to pretend he wasn’t interested in the boy at all.

“Niall told me about the letter you wrote to your mother.”

“I did not write-!” Louis broke off, “Wait, when did you talk to Niall?”

“Last night, after we ran into each other at the lav.” Harry responded with a shrug, reaching over to grab an orange from a large bowl of fruit.

“After I left you and Niall talked about me?”

Harry, peeling away the skin of the orange, grinned, “Yes, why? Too unusual after I peed on your foot?”

“You’d think you'd be saving the conversations about me with me. Because you did pee on my foot, after all. Not Niall’s.”

Pressing a piece of orange into his mouth, Harry nodded sagely. He took a moment to chew and swallow, saying, “Of course. Absolutely right. In fact, we’ll have plenty of time to chat about you during Christmas, while I’m at your house.”

Louis went stiff, eyes widening. “Um, what?”

Harry laughed, “Niall told me! And I agreed of course! This is perfect! You need a fake boyfriend to impress your mum and I need a topic to write about for my muggle studies class! A muggle Christmas is the perfect topic!”

Louis felt his heart deflate in his chest and he had to force himself to rearrange his face so it wouldn’t show how much his answer affected him. “Oh, yeah, muggle studies. Yeah, so if I scratch your back, you’ll scratch mind? Figuratively speaking, that it.”

Eagerly, Harry nodded his head, “Of course! This is so perfect! Thank you so much, Lou! You won’t regret this!” His beautiful face was lit up like a Christmas tree. How was Louis suppose to stand staring into that face for his entire holiday?

Louis was already regretting it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

“Are you regretting this?” Louis’s head snapped up from where he had been gazing at the struggling chocolate frog in his fingers for what felt like about ten minutes. The sides were slick from melting and were starting to drip onto his palm. His heart thumped in his chest and his mind raced through potential answers to _that_ loaded question. 

“Um, what?” Louis asked, dumbly, glancing between Harry, who was sitting in muggle attire across from him and the chocolate frog melting in his hand.

Harry smiled patiently, “The frog. Are you regretting getting him?” He lifted up his box of Bertie Bott’s, “You can have some of mine if you’re not feeling the chocolate.”

Insulted, Louis huffed and shoved the entire chocolate frog into his mouth. It stopped moving immediately and melting into molten chocolate on his tongue. “I never feel regret.” Louis lied around his mouthful of chocolate. Harry blinked, surprised and then laughed, withdrawing the box of Bertie Bott’s and setting it on his knee once again.

“Good, I’m glad.” There was a hint of something else in his voice that Louis didn’t catch as he turned his face to look out the window. Absently, he began to lick his fingers, sucking the sticky chocolate away from his digits. Distracted by the snow flashing past the window, obscuring most of the view, he failed to notice Harry’s attentive eyes, watching his movements with dark eyes.

They arrived at King’s Cross Station soon after and Louis leapt up, grabbing his suitcase and beckoned Harry to follow him. As usual, Platform 9 3/4 was packed, with parents waiting, students, and the reunion between the two. With Harry on his tail, Louis lead the boy through the crowds, looking around wildly.

  
“Oh, Louis! Louis, over here, dear!” Louis couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face.

“Mum! Come on, Harry, there’s me mum!” Louis corralled the curly haired boy along with him, making their way to Louis’s mom, Johannah. She was a short woman, curvy and beautiful and quite young for a mum. She has a look in her eye that Harry could bet that she had seen enough shenanigans in her life time though. Raising Louis, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

“Lou!” Johannah cried, looking delighted. She threw her arms around him, nearly causing him to drop his suitcase. “Oh, my darling boy!” She soothed, “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, mum,” Louis mumbled, embarrassed by his mother’s affection. Coughing, he added, “Also, look who is here, mum.”

Johannah peered around Louis to spot Harry, tall and lanky and curly, grinning bashfully at her. Her face lit up as if the sun had appeared behind her eyes and she shoved Louis out of the way, “Oh my gosh, you must be Harry! Oh gosh, it’s so lovely to meet you!” She wrapped Harry the best as she could in her arms, seeing as she was significantly shorter than him. “Oh gosh, the girls are gonna love your hair!”

Harry laughed, “Thank you, ma’am-,”

“Oh, dear, call me Jo.”

“Mum!” Louis hissed, flushed in the face.

Johannah waved off Louis’s concerns. “Come on boys, to the car now. The girls are waiting anxiously for your arrival, Harry.”

Harry beamed, his dimpled popping out and Johannah swooned, picking at his curls and giggling in delight. Louis sighed, “Mum? Car?” He prompted, face still flushed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to keep this up. Harry was too cute for this earth and the fact he had already won over Louis’s mother…

Inwardly groaning, Louis followed his mother, who was leading Harry to the car compact Fort Anglia, baby blue coloured. Placing their luggage in the trunk, Johannah tried to get Harry to sit in the passenger but, with a bit of back and forth and Harry telling her Louis would like to sit next to his mum, (“Not anymore, the traitor…” Louis muttered.) Louis managed to snag the passenger seat. Harry sat in the seat behind him and Louis was suddenly very aware how big Harry was, cramped in the small space of the car, hunched with his knees up practically to his chest. Rubbing at his nose, Louis cursed at himself, cleared his throat and finally said, “So mom, the pastries for Niall?”

“All packaged, just waiting for you to get home to send them! I figured you’d wanna write to him as well.”

“As well?”

“I, of course, wrote to him myself. He is my best boy!” Johannah laughed. Louis rolled his eyes, grinning despite himself. He loved that his mother loved his friends as much as he did and his friends loved her as well. The fact his friends got along with his family also made his heart lighter. Put him in the Christmas spirit. And now there was Harry…

Louis glanced in the mirror to see how said Gryffindor was doing and saw, much to his amusement, Harry inspecting the car with reverent curiosity. He was tensed as they drove along but seemed pleased by the method of transport nonetheless.

Chatting with his mother, the ride seemed to go by fast as he spilled about his semester, gushing about his grades, (“Of course you’re good at charms, baby! It’s because you’re so charming! You take after me, after all!”) 

Eventually, they turned off the highway. Louis, out the rearview mirror, saw Harry press his nose against the window, gazing wide eyed as the houses turned into trees and the pavement into gravel. Grinning, Louis enjoyed the look of wonder on the boy’s face and then it seemed like reality struck him in the head.

Harry was from a pureblood family. A richie rich, if you would. Louis was from a muggle family. They were fairly well-off from an inheritance from Johannah’s mother after she passed over ten years ago. It was enough money for Johannah and her five children to live comfortably in a farmhouse on a nice sized acreage. Louis remembered the small apartment they had used to live in and cringed. It had been small and cramped and everything always broke because he was always doing accidental magic.

Now that he was a mature (hahaha, Louis thought to himself) wizard he was able to control his magic, things didn’t break anymore, and there was enough room for the six of them.

And now there was going to be room for Harry.

As they pulled up the long driveway that led to the cozy farmhouse, Louis realized something. “Mum?”

  
  
“Hm?”

“Where is Harry going to sleep?”

Johannah gave Louis an odd look before she seemed to realize something and laughed, smacking the steering wheel. “Oh, you must be not used to _it_ because you’re in different fractions!”  
  
“Houses, not fractions, mum. And what do you mean _it_? What’s _it_?” Louis narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Sharing a bed, obviously. Harry’s staying in your room. Don’t worry dear, I washed the sheets.”

Behind Louis, Harry sputtered and Louis’s eyes clenched shut, “Thanks mum.” (Thanks a lot, Louis thought bitterly, how am I gonna share a bed with ginormous fucking dimpled _cherub_?) She either didn’t notice her tone or didn’t seem to care about the slight hint of snip to it and she merely smiled at the boys.

Finally, the car pulled up right in front of the garage. The house was big, and white, blending into the snotty background, with a wrap around porch littered with Christmas decorations. There was a wood box laying on its side with hunks of cut down tree stack inside of it. A red lantern sat onto of it. Bells hung from twine from the doorknob and around the knocker was a deep green wreath. There was a wrought iron rocking chair layered with red and white plaid blankets next to a wooden barrel of greenery and berries. On the other side of the chair was an olden wooden sleigh. On the wall was a plastic deer head, mounted to a plaque that said HOME SWEET HOME.

Harry seemed to be drinking the sight in, eyes wide and his fingers twitching, as if he was itching to write down everything he was seeing. They climbed out of the car and retrieved their luggage, headed up the steps behind Johannah as she pulled out the right key and unlocked the door.

“Locking the girls in, eh? Afraid they might actually escape this year?” Louis teased loudly as they entered and there were screams from the living room. Phoebe and Daisy, twins and the youngest of the five siblings came rushing out of the living room, screaming Louis’s name. They spotted him within seconds and threw themselves at him, nearly knocking him over.

“Ouf! They’re trying to get out, Mum! Quick, lock the door! Before they escape and hurt someone!” Louis cried out, dramatically and the girls giggled happily and immediately both began to talk at the same time.

“-And Jill gets to go to France, she told me-,”

“-As if Andrew is actually dating Amanda! She’s wayyyyy too cool for him!”

Louis grinned and glanced over at Harry, who was watching the scene with affectionate eyes. Following the younger girls, significantly slower, were Fizzy and Lottie, the oldest girls. Fizzy seemed to be growing taller every time Louis saw her, with her long brown hair and big eyes. Lottie’s hair was bleached and her lips a dark ruby red, standing stark against the pale hair.

“Girls,” Lottie said with a grin, “Look who showed up with Lou,” She teased. Seeing Louis’s glare, she winked and laughed, crossing her arms.

Immediately, Phoebe and Daisy turned and came face to face with Harry, who was beaming at them with his dimples. “OH MY GOSH!” They screamed and immediately Louis had become trash in the face of their new friend.

“Who are you?”

“Are you Lou’s _boyfriend_!”

“Why is your hair long?”

“Can you pick me up and make me the same height as you?”

Harry blinked and took all their questions in stride, “I’m Harry, Lou’s _boyfriend,”_ Louis flushed, something in him liking the way Harry spoke, referring to himself as his boyfriend, “I like long hair and yes.” And with that he bent down, plucked Daisy up by the waist and lifted her onto his hip. She squealed happily. “Holy moly!” She squealed, making Louis and their mother laugh.

Phoebe started to jump back and forth, “Pick me up! Pick me up!”

“Phoebe, what do you say?” Johannah reminded sternly.

“Please, please, please!”

Johannah laughed, “Let the boys come in and unpack. And then, if he wants, Harry can pick you up. Only if he wants to though, girls.” Phoebe pouted but dropped the subject as Harry gently lowered Daisy to the ground. The girls both immediately ran off giggling and Johannah waved them in, “Come on boys. Louis show Harry to your room.” Louis flushed when Fizzy and Lottie grinned cheekily at him and he shot daggers at them with his eyes.

With the girls out of the way, Lottie walked up to Harry, “Lottie, the best sibling,” she introduced herself, shaking Harry’s hand. Louis rolled his eyes and Fizzy laughed, walking up beside her sister.

“I’m Fizzy, the good looking one,” She offered her hand too and grinned at Lottie’s pout.

Harry chuckled, “I’m Harry,” He introduced in his slow, low voice but, judging by the looks on their faces, they knew that already. Louis shot his mom a look but she shrugged, a smirk curling her lips.

“Alright, alright, he’s Harry everyone, yes, yes. Come on, Curly, I’ll show you my room.” Lottie whistled and threw her long hair over her shoulder and Louis grabbed Harry’s wrist and tugged him through the house.

They reached Louis’s room on the second floor and Harry whispered, “Your family is really sweet.”

Louis chuckled, “Wait until you see them when there’s only one turkey leg left. You won’t be thinking that. Probably something more like… loud, terrifying, animalistic…”

Harry grinned, “So just like you.”

Louis paused and turned to face Harry with a smirk, “Really? You wanna say things like that while we’re in the isolation of my bedroom?” Seeing Harry’s look of surprise, Louis groaned and quickly turned away, throwing his luggage case onto his bed. “Never mind, I’m dumb.”

“Are you flirting with me?”

“You’re my boyfriend, do I need to flirt with you?”

Harry considered this, “I mean, fake boyfriend,” he corrected. “So, maybe?” Louis glanced over at him to see Harry’s nose scrunched up and his eyes roving the wall of the moving posters of Quidditch teams, looking deep in thought. Turning back to his suitcase, Louis pulled out the candy he got for his sisters and laid it on the bed before grabbing handfuls of clothes and shoving them into drawers. Harry watched him with eyes glittering in amusement.

“Where shall I put my clothes, Lou?” Harry whispered, shyly, holding his suitcase close to him. Louis froze for a moment, considering his own selfishness before grabbing and tugging open his joggers drawer. Pulling every single pair of joggers out that he owned, he threw them in the empty laundry basket and presented the drawer to Harry.

“We’re like proper boyfriends, now.” Louis teased, “Look at how domestic this is.”

Harry grinned, a single dimple coming out to play as he approached the drawers and began to carefully lay his clothes inside. Louis watched him for a moment before he quickly shook himself and went back to unpacking. After he threw around everything he had brought home, nothing in order, Louis organized the candy into a fabric bag and hid it in his closet. Seeing Harry’s eyes follow his movements, he said, “Gonna be in their stockings.” Harry nodded his head in understanding, snapping his empty suitcase shut.

Unpacked, both boys went downstairs, to where Johannah was in the kitchen. Fizzy was there too, both of them talking in low voices as Phoebe and Daisy were playing in the living room, Lottie watching tv around them.

Louis, entering the kitchen, walked up to his mum and placed a kiss on her cheek, “Anything I can help with, mum?”

“No, no, you and Harry sit down. Fizzy was just telling me she finished up the shopping for the girls this morning so I have some more wrapping to do. Can you distract the girls and get them out of the house for a little bit?”

Louis considered it for a moment glancing over at Harry, “I can take them to see Santa at the mall?”

Johannah beamed, “Perfect!”

The problem with bringing the girls to see Santa was that, while they loved Santa and Christmas and everything that came along with it, they were actually afraid of Santa and it tended to be a bit of an ordeal to talk them into photos.

It seemed, however, that Harry was some sort of lucky charm. “Are you excited to see Santa?” He asked the girls and they both cheered as they entered the line-up, filled with other children and their haggard-from-the-season parents. And, true to their word, they were. But, after fifteen minutes of waiting and Louis pointing out stores and cellphones and trying his best to explain things to Harry, it was their turn and both girls began to cling onto Harry and Louis’s legs.

“Harry, he’s scary!” Daisy hissed.

Louis opened his mouth, ready to promise anything to stop them from making a scene but Harry beat him to it, “What if Louis and I sat in with you guys?” He glanced at the elf girl working the payment stand, “Is that alright?” Louis blinked, surprised. (Why didn’t I think of that!? He wondered.)

“Of course!” She agreed and Louis slapped some muggle cash onto the podium and grabbed Phoebe’s hand, Harry and he leading the girls up the velvet red carpet to Santa.

Nothing ever went smoothly with the Tomlinson family, Louis thought, kneeling next to Santa, trying to persuade Phoebe to sit on Santa’s lap. Harry even seem to be struggling with Daisy to get her on Santa’s knee. Santa was chuckling and seemed to find their struggles amusing and Louis wanted to smack the beard off his face.

“Santa, tell Louis I can _stand_!”

“Dear, why don’t you wanna sit on old Santa’s lap?” Santa asked instead.

“Santa, you know why! I told you in my letter!” Santa’s face blanked and he looked at Louis who shrugged helplessly. “Don’t you remember Santa?” She asked, suspiciously. She gave Daisy a look, who seemed to be studying Santa carefully. 

“Dear, I get a lot of letters, remind this old Santa, what you mean?”

Phoebe and Daisy exchanged looks and shook their heads. “Can we go home now, Lou-Lou?” Daisy asked, holding onto Harry’s hand in a death grip.

“Not yet, Daisy, let’s get a photo with Santa.”

“ANDREW IN MATH CLASS SAID HE’S NOT THE REAL SANTA!” Phoebe screamed, pushing out of Louis’s arms and running. The other kids heard her and began screaming and the parents began to hectically collect their kids, shooting Louis and Harry dirty looks. As the lineup descended into chaos, Louis scooped Daisy up and deposited her in Harry’s arms before running off after Phoebe, Harry hot on his heels.

He caught up to Daisy, who got distracted by a kiosk selling chocolate and grabbed her, setting her on his hip, “Merlin’s beard, Phoebe, how can you say that about Santa!” He exclaimed, in the sternest voice he could muster, even though he could barely stop his laughter.

“But Andrew said-,”

“I thought you said Andrew was stupid?”

“Mom told me not to call him that.” Phoebe admitted, “But he is…”

“So he’s obviously wrong.” Louis settled, causing both Phoebe and Daisy to look thoughtful and rather repentant at what they did. “Now do you wanna go back and say sorry to Santa?” They glanced over and saw that children were still screaming and crying in the line-up. “Uh, never mind.” He chuckled awkwardly. “How about some hot chocolate?”

Sitting Harry and the girls at one of the tables in the food court, Louis went to the coffee shop and ordered two medium and two small hot chocolates. After getting the drinks, he went back to the table to see the girls showing Harry how to play tic tac toe on the napkins, using a pink glitter pen she had stashed in her tiny purse. Harry looked fascinated with the game and was beaten several times by both girls.

After drinking their got chocolates, they got back into the car and the girls in the back sang along to The Who’s of Whoville singing Welcome Christmas on the radio. When they got back to the house, Lottie opened the door with a grin, “Did you girls have fun?”

“They might have ruined Christmas for about forty small children so I say it’s all in days work,” Louis said, kicking his boots off, alongside Harry’s. Lottie raised an eyebrow and Louis shrugged sheepishly. “Got them out of the house, didn’t we?”

“Jeez, Lou, back one day and already ruining Christmas?”

“I try my best.”

Harry giggled and Louis grinned at him. Lottie muttered something about them making her sick and turned, disappearing into the house.

“Alright, Styles, the night is still young, what do you want to get up too?” Louis asked with a grin, slapping his hands together.

Harry’s face lit up with a beautiful smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

“Of all the things for you to choose, you picked a freaking _movie._ ”

“I’ve never seen a muggle moving picture!” Harry gushed, eyes transfixed on the tv. “What is this called?”

“The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”

Harry nodded, not taking his eyes away to even look at Louis. Louis huffed and crossed his arms, sulking and slipping into a slump on the couch, beside Harry. Johannah came out of the kitchen with two bowls of popcorn, giving one to the girls who were wrapped in blankets on the ground in front of Louis and Harry. She was about to give Louis the other bowl but seemed to notice something, beckoning him to follow her to the kitchen with the bowl.

With raised eyebrows, Louis followed, Harry glancing at him from the corner of his eyes.

“What’s up, mum?”

“What did you call him? A pure…?”

“Pureblood, mum.” Louis chuckled, “Means the poor boy has no experience with muggles at all. You should have seen him when he saw cellphones at the mall.”

Johannah nodded thoughtfully, “Well, I think you should try and show him all our muggle traditions this Christmas!” She declared, “Poor boy seems to enjoy it.” Louis bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying something incriminating. “Now take your popcorn and go cuddle with that boy. He’ll love that.” She glanced at the clock, “After the movie, I’m putting the girls to bed.”

Nodding and blushing, Louis accepted the popcorn bowl and walked back to the couch, where he hesitated and looked at Harry. His fake boyfriend was perched on the edge of the couch, hands clasped together and watching the tv with avid attention. Sighing, he balanced the bowl on the arm of the chair before sitting next to Harry, rather stiffly.

Peering over her shoulder, Lottie raised an eyebrow and glanced between them. She mouthed ‘everything okay?’ and Louis nodded, sneaking a look at Harry. While Louis wasn’t a Gryffindor known for his bravery, he knew what he had to do to sell his boyfriend situation to his family and immediately, taking a deep breath to steady himself, threw himself into Harry’s shoulder, clumsily knocking him back into the couch. Nearly falling face first into Harry’s lap, he caught himself and curled himself as tightly as he could into Harry’s side.

Harry, confused, held his arm up to let him adjust. “Uh, Louis?” He whispered.

“Shut up and sell this, Styles.”

Flushed, Harry dropped his big arm around Louis’s shoulder and dragged him even tighter to his chest. Louis could hear Harry’s accelerated heartbeat from under his cable knit, lavender sweater and he bit his lip, stopping himself from mocking the boy. (His heart was doing the same thing after all.) Harry smelt… nice, Louis thought, grudgingly. Of course, the boy who peed on him smelt nice was nice, was incredibly smart and patient. 

Louis considered lying and saying he was tired and going to bed but then realized he would not only be leaving Harry to the mercy of his sisters but Harry would also have to crawl into bed next to Louis and Louis didn’t want to be asleep when that happened. Why he wasn’t sure. Louis was caught somewhere between ‘it would be rude and my mum taught me better’ and ‘I wanna see if he sleeps in just his pants’. Face burning at the thought, Louis tried to banish the thought of what Harry looked like out of the Hogwarts uniform and the bulky muggle sweater he was now adorning.

Overthinking everything and hyperaware of everything else, the movie ended almost too soon for Louis, who was finally adjusting to being in Harry’s arms. Harry, who would squeeze him just a little tighter when he got too invested in the movie. With the movie over, Louis gently lifted himself up from Harry’s chest, his cheek instantly missing the warmth Harry provided. (What is he, a fucking furnace?)

“Alright girls…” Louis started, glancing at his mom who was sitting in her chair, the big rocker that everyone knew belonged to mum.

“Can we watch it again, Lou?” Harry asked, wide-eyed, watching the credits roll. Daisy and Phoebe shrieked excitedly at the prospect but Johannah quickly put an end to that.

“Girls, girls, it’s your bedtime, come along.” After a bit of a struggle, Johannah managed to corral the girls upstairs to their bedroom.

Fizzy turned and faced Louis, “Wanna watch something else, Lou? What hasn’t Harry seen?”

“He’s seen nothing,” Louis admitted and Harry grinned sheepishly.

Fizzy, even though she knew Harry was a pureblood wizard, seemed caught off guard by the answer and she quickly began to filter through the movies they had in their DVD bar. “Another Christmas one?”

“The girls would never forgive us if we did that.”

Lottie laughed, “Well, let’s watch a movie the girls _can’t_ watch. Like Die Hard.”

So they watched Die Hard.

Louis didn’t manage the courage to snuggle up to Harry again but they were both significantly more comfortable beside each other, thighs and arms touching. Harry was a lot more jumpy with this movie, shocked at the blatant violence. Every time Bruce Willis got hurt Louis could have sworn he saw Harry’s eyes tear up. Eventually, that too ended and Harry seemed shaken. Louis poked his thigh, “You okay?”

“I… yeah, it was just really…”

“Violent?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it is called Die Hard,” Louis tried to joke but Harry just frowned and looked down at his hands. “Ah, don’t worry, love, it’s all fake. Nobody got hurt. It’s just like those books you read. Fictional fighting and death.”

Ears burning bright red behind his curls, Harry peered at Louis’s earnest face. “Like my books?”

“Yeah, love,” Louis soothed.

Cheeks pinking, Harry nodded, looking significantly less worried than he had a second ago. Louis got up, pleased with his work, and shut the tv off, watching the screen fizz into blackness. With only a lamp on and the glow of the Christmas tree lights, the living room was darker without the tv and Lottie cursed as she stood up and stumbled over the blankets. “I’ll put everything away tomorrow morning…” She muttered, yawning and dragging her phone out of her pocket, turning the flashlight on. Harry gasped and beamed when he saw it, poking at Louis to show him too.

Louis, who had accidentally seen his sister yawn, yawned too and waved Harry’s prodding finger away. “Come on, now to bed,” he muttered, his stomach sinking. Yeah, to bed…

Harry didn’t seem to notice his anxiety or dread and happily followed Louis up the stairs to his room. As soon as they got into the room, Louis shut the door behind them and turned the lights on. They stood there in silence, both realizing what came next.

“Fuck, this got weird,” Louis muttered, risking a glance at Harry.

Harry, blushing a very dark red, looked down at his feet, “I can sleep on the couch…”

“No, you can’t. Because if someone sees you then everything will be questioned and that can’t happen.” Louis scolded, no real heat to his voice. “So you’re gonna strip down to your pants and crawl into that bed and this won’t be weird.”

“Too late. You’ve made this weird.”

“I figured as soon as I said that that it was a mistake,” Louis agreed, sighing and pulling his t-shirt off, incredibly self-conscious as he did so. Harry’s eyes were very obviously glued to the new skin he was showing and he huffed, “Stop staring. It’s like you’ve never seen a mate shirtless.”

Harry shuffled his feet, pouting, “Well, you’re not really a mate…”

“Oh?” Louis asked, deflating at the admission. If they weren’t mates, things we’re going to get weirder faster than they already were. 

Without sensing his disappoint, Harry seemed to recover pretty fast and admitted, “You’re my -fake- boyfriend and you’re very pretty.” Louis jumped at that, unable to stop himself from glancing down at his bare chest.

“ _Manly_ , thank you, Harold.”

Smirking at that, Harry agreed, “Yes, _manly_.” Louis puffed out his chest and Harry snickered, pulling off his own sweater.

“Huh, got some tone, don’t yeah, bookworm.”

“I… do stuff too!”

Louis waved him off, “Sure, sure.” And, very reluctantly, he pulled open the buttons and zipper of his jeans. Hesitating, only slightly, Louis talked himself into it, trying to pretend he was in the locker rooms, getting ready for a Quidditch match. Except this match was on a bed and he was going to share it with a very fit lad and they were both going to be undressed as much as possible without being naked. Louis sighed and shucked his jeans off, revealing his boxers. Without leaving time for Harry to ogle him, he jumped into bed and hid under the fresh smelling blankets.

“Strip,” he ordered Harry, seeing the boy just standing there.

Harry narrowed his eyes, “I don’t like your tone, Mr Tomlinson.”

“If we’re doing kinky, I prefer _Professor_ Tomlinson, Harold.” Louis inwardly slapped himself. _Foot, meet mouth. Oh right, you two are already acquainted._

Stunned, Harry managed to sputter, “I… my name isn’t Harold!”

“And I’m not a Professor yet here we are. Now hurry up before I undress you myself.” (Seriously, Louis… SHUT UP, Louis screamed at himself.)

Harry narrowed his eyes and popped the button open, staring directly in Louis’s eyes. Slowly, he began to unzip his pants, their eyes still locked. Louis gulped, very aware of the heat that was headed southbound. “Are you serious?” He croaked, “It’s only the first night, Styles.”

“You can call me Harry, _professor_.”

“I absolutely loathe you,” Louis managed, nothing but need in his voice.

Laughing loudly, Harry pulled his pants off in a quick motion, revealing his grey boxer briefs. Before Louis could take in the sight of the fit lad, Harry flicked the switch off, immersing them in darkness. Happily, he jumped into the queen-sized bed beside Louis.

“You’re a tease, Styles,” Louis muttered into the darkness of his room.

“Hm, whatever you say, _professor_.” Harry giggled and Louis groaned, flipping onto his side so his back facing the other boy. “You can call me Harry, you know. Just Harry.”

“Fine, Just Harry.”

“Louis.”

“Harold.”

Harry sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to win and curled up onto his side as well, his shoulder brushing against Louis’s as he turned.

It seemed like forever, the two of them just breathing into the dark silence of the bedroom. Louis thought he would never fall asleep again, hyper-focused on the sound of Harry’s steady breathing beside him. He wasn’t sure when but he eventually fell asleep, his arm falling off the side of the bed and his mouth slightly opened as soft snores escaped. If Louis had been awake, he would have felt -and seen- Harry turn to face him, watching him and, despite the darkness, finding the outline of Louis’s nose and lips to trace with his gaze.

“I have a shift at the hospital today, Lou,” Johannah told him the next morning when Louis had snuck out of the bedroom, throwing on a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of joggers he dug out from his laundry hamper. “Surely you and Harry can find something to do?”

“Mum, it’s the holidays…”

“I know but there’s no rest for the wicked, love,” Johannah told him, throwing a pan into the sink. “Take Harry skating on the pond.” She suggested. Louis sighed and nodded, digging in the cupboard for a bag of crisps. “Cook food! Don’t just eat junk!” Johannah caught on to what he was doing and reprimanded. Louis whined and fell into a chair at the table, making Johannah laugh. “Tomorrow night is Danika from HR’s Christmas party, I hope you and Harry brought your suits.”

“First of all, I’m insulted you think I bring a suit everywhere with me. Second of all, you hate Danika. Third of all, there’s no way I’m bringing Harry to that mess,” Louis listed off on each finger.

“First of all, you better have brought your suit because I mailed you specifically that you should. Second of all, Danika has hired a chef from London to do the cooking tomorrow night and I’m not missing that even if I do hate her. Third of all, you’re bringing Harry.” Johannah retaliated.

“What if Harry doesn’t want to go?”

Johannah smirked, “And why do I think, for some reason, he will want to go and mingle with the Miggles?”

Louis groaned, “Muggles, mum. Muggles.”

  
“That’s what I said,” Johannah dismissed. “Now I’ve got to go, hun. Be good today.” She kissed his cheek and headed out, grabbing her jacket, purse and keys. Once the door slammed behind her, Louis went back to the pantry, digging for a bag of crisps again.

Behind him, someone said, “Louis?” and he turned and looked. It was Harry, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, his hair a curly mess. “What are you doing?” he asked, in a suspicious tone.

“Getting breakfast.”

“Why don’t you just make a fry-up?” Harry asked, talking over to the fridge.

Louis snorted, “That sounds like work, Harold. Not at nine in the morning.”

Rolling his eyes, Harry said, “Put the crisps away, I’ll cook.”

Hesitantly, Louis eyed him, as if waiting for some sort of joke to follow, “Wait, you’re serious?”

Pulling out ham and eggs from the fridge, Harry turned to Louis, “Yes?” Louis shook his head and waved him on, dropping into a seat at the table and watching the boy work. He washed the pan Johannah used and hummed as he broke the eggs over it. As he worked, Louis began to drift off to sleep again, his cheek falling to the table.

“Lou?” Louis shot up, face red from where he had been laying on it, seeing Harry standing before him with a plate of food. “Were you sleeping at the table?” Harry asked, amused. 

“No,” Louis lied. “Is that mine?” He asked, gesturing to the plate.

“Yup, here you go. I hope it’s good.”

Louis dug in with the fork offered to him by the cook. It tasted about two times better than how it smelled and it smelled mouthwatering. Louis wondered if Harry cooked for himself at home too or if he had a House-elf like most pureblood families. “This is amazing,” Louis moaned with his mouthful as Harry sat down across from him with his own plate.

Beaming, Harry thanked him and then asked, “What’s the plan for the day?”

  
“Me mum suggested skating.” Louis murmured, “But I suppose you wanna start on your essay?”

Harry shook his head, smiling, “Skating sounds brilliant.”

After shoving themselves into their jackets, boots, gloves and hats, Louis led Harry out to the garage where he proceeded to dig through a box labelled ‘winter’. He pulled out his skates, old hockey skates and a pair of bigger figure skates an aunt had given him as a gift one Christmas. “Here, I hope these fit. If not, I’ll adjust them,” Louis said, pulling his wand out of his joggers.

“You just keep your wand in your pants?”

“Of course. You don’t?”

“I have a holster. Do you know how many times a buttocks has been blown off by having a wand in the pocket!?”

“Probably never. Come on Curly, to the pond.” Louis dropped the figure skates into Harry’s hands along with a glittery gold helmet that once belonged to Lottie. They left the garage and began their trek through the yard, Louis sinking significantly into the snow with each step, the cold biting into his legs through his joggers. Harry followed in his steps, panting to try and keep up, despite his long gait.

“I’ll have you know the statistics are high! Plus, why did you bring your wand, you can’t use magic outside of Hogwarts!” Harry panted, rushing to Louis’s side.

Louis rolled his eyes, “I’m seventeen, highly qualified enough to use a wand outside of school.”

Harry seemed to be calculating it in his head, eyeing Louis suspiciously. “You’re older than me?”

“Hence why I have more facial hair, Harold. Come on, to the bench.” Louis brushed the snow off the bench that was to the right of the frozen pond and gestured for Harry to sit and put his skates on. He then cleared a spot for himself and sat, kicking his boots off and hurrying to shove his feet into the skates.

“Lou, they’re too small,” Harry whispered, sheepishly.

Louis rolled his eyes fondly and grabbing his wand. Pointing it at the skates in Harry’s hands he whispered, “Engorgio.” The skates grew to what seemed to be an appropriate size and Harry managed to slip his feet in. “There you are Cinderella, the perfect fit.”

“Cinder-? What?”

“Never mind, you obviously have never seen Disney. Not that it matters for this fake relationship. Tie yourself up and get your ass on the ice.” Louis waddled through the snow on his skates until he made it to the edge of the pond where he slipped onto it carefully. Within moments he was skating across the fresh ice, the wind whipping across his cheeks. Harry watched him apprehensively for a moment before he stood up, wadded through the snow and he placed a foot on the ice. Immediately, he crashed onto his back, slipping further into the centre of the ice.

A bark of laughter escaped Louis but when Harry didn’t get up right away, the laughter died and he hurried over to the taller boy. “Harry! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Harry leaned up with a smile, “You finally called me Harry!”

Frowning, Louis said, “Of course I called you Harry! I thought you were dead! Merlin’s beard, mate.”

“You haven’t called me Harry to my face,” Harry said as tried to climb to his feet. His ankled bent inwards and he collapsed to his knees.

“Fuck.”

Louis laughed, “Come on Cinderella, you can do this.”

“I don’t understand that reference,” Harry replied as he tried to push himself up. Louis reached out and grabbed his arms, hauling him to his feet. He teetered back and forth and would have fallen over again if Louis hadn’t been holding onto him.   
  
“Alright, let’s get you moving,” Louis grinned, starting to skate backwards.

“N-No! Louis, wait!” Louis didn’t listen and kept his grip as tight as possible without it being punishing on the poor boy. As he skated back, Harry was dragged with him, his ankles wobbling as they went.

Laughing, Louis said, “Oi, you’re fine pretty boy.”

Harry paused, tilting his head and considering what he said, “You think I’m pretty?”

“Everyone does. I hear you’re popular with the ladies. Speaking of ladies, did you bring a suit? I think I told you to bring a suit.”

“I’m gay so it doesn’t really matter if I’m popular with women,” Harry admitted, shrugging. “And no, you didn’t tell me to bring a suit. Why do I need a suit?”

“HARRY! I told you to bring a suit!”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did! You need a suit! Merlin’s beard! How am I going to tell my mom you didn’t bring a suit after I _told_ you to bring a suit!”

“You never told me that! I would have remembered!”

“Damnit Harold, you had one job and you failed me!”

“You never told me to bring a suit!”

Louis huffed, “Of course I did! What are we gonna do now?”

Harry suddenly grinned, very slyly, “You _never_ told me to bring a suit. I, however, brought a suit, just in case.”

Abruptly, Louis stopped skating and Harry nearly fell into him. “You brought a suit?” Louis asked, suspiciously.

“Yes, of course. You never know when you need one.”

“I… you made me think you didn’t bring a suit!”

“I never said anything about _not_ bringing a suit.” Harry nudged Louis and Louis began to skate again, dragging Harry in circles around the pond. “I just said you never told me to bring a suit. Very different.”

“You’re the most annoying person I know Harry Styles. And I have to live with myself every day so that’s a feat.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

While Louis dragged Harry around the ice, the two of them verbally sparing, the young girls, along with Lottie and Fizzy who were carrying sledges, came rushing through the snow at them, dressed in their bright winter gear. Phoebe and Daisy were throwing snowballs at each other and screaming and laughing as they jumped and zig-zagged through the snow. A rogue snowball hit Lottie and she gasped as the snow fell off her jacket. She grabbed her own handful of snow and launched it at Louis as he and Harry passed by on the side of the pond closet to them. It smacked him in the ass, nearly sending him in Harry who almost lost balance.

“Merlin’s beard!” Louis hissed, correcting his posture carefully as to not to slip, “Watch the assets, Lot! You’re gonna damage the money maker!” Harry tittered as he wobbled on his ankles.

“You make lots of coin with that asset?” Harry asked with his dimples out full force.

“I _did_. You ruined me.”

“For every other man?”

“I’m used goods now. It’s really quite tragic. It’s hard to be a taken man.”

Still, in their boots, Phoebe and Daisy slid onto the ice, laughing and with snowballs in their gloved hands. “Lou, Lou!” They chanted and Louis made the mistake of looking away from Harry. The girls, squealing in laughter, threw their snowballs as hard as they could and at the last moment, Harry pushed off of Louis and miraculously skated away without any assistance. The snowballs rained on Louis and he just managed to raise his arms to protect his face before he was pelted.

“What is going on here!? Liars, cheats and traitors!” Louis cried, pointing at Harry as he skated around behind the girls, laughing with his pink cheeks and cute crinkled eyes and beautiful curls sticking out from under his knitted hat. Louis cursed inwardly. Out loud he said, “You could skate this whole time?”

“Of course! I love skating!”

Louis narrowed his eyes, “Then why did you have me drag you around the ice all morning?”

“I just wanted to hold your hands.”

The girls ‘awwed’ and giggled, trying to run off the ice to retrieve more snow. Lottie and Fizzy approached the edge of the ice with the sledges, “Wanna do some sledging?” Fizzy asked, helping Phoebe off the ice. Crying out _yes_ , the girls each took a sledge, both which were covered in princess stickers and started to run to the hill, which led down into a field. “Lou? Harry?” Fizzy asked.

Louis nodded his head and trekked off the ice, “Harold lied to me about skating so I’m done!” He said, dramatically, making Harry giggle behind him.

Lottie and Fizzy took off after the girls and Louis untied his skates at the bench and slipped his cold shoes back on. Casting a quick warming spell on his feet along with Harry’s shoes with his wand, Louis watched Harry do a twirl on the ice, landing rather clumsily before he made his way back to the bench.

“Put your shoes on, traitor.”

Harry grinned, “I just wanted to hold your hands, Lou.”

“I’m suspicious, Styles.”

Laughing, Harry shook his head and slipped his shoes on. Noticing that they had been warmed, he shot Louis a grateful look and the two boys left their skates on the bench to follow the girls to the hill.

It turns out that Harry found a love of sledging.

It had been a bit tricky at first, trying to convince him that sledging was completely safe and a normal thing to do. With some persuading from Phoebe and and Daisy (they were very good at talking people into things), he managed to fit his long legs on the sledge, Phoebe jumping in between them and Daisy clinging to his back. With a push from Lottie, the three were off, shrieking in the cold air as they shot down the hill.

Louis couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Harry, clinging to his sisters, shoot down the hill again and again.

They spent about two hours, just running up the hill and sledging down it at high speeds. Harry, Louis thought, was actually pretty amazing. Despite the high speeds they were going, he made sure every time to take the brunt of the fall, grabbing and hugging the girls in his arms and taking the hit for them. By the end of it, the girls were tired and cold but insanely happy.

“Lou, hot chocolate!” Daisy panted as Harry hauled her and Phoebe up the slope. “My toes are cold.”

Taking Daisy from Harry’s arms, Louis laughed and agreed it was time for them to go inside. With Lottie and Fizzy, who went down the hill as well, carrying the sledges, Harry and Louis carried the girls through the snow back to the house.

Everyone changed into fresh socks and hung up their wet clothes, and Louis brewed hot chocolate while Harry made sandwiches. Wrapping the girls in blankets on the couch next to Lottie, Louis had Fizzy set up the tv and put on the first Home Alone movie for them.

It was nearly dinner time when Johannah got back. After greeting everyone and giving the the girl’s kisses on the heads when they ran up to her, she ran upstairs and changed out of her scrubs to something more casual. “Alright guys, I’m making chicken and mashed potatoes and for dessert, we’re gonna be baking some cookies.”

Phoebe, Daisy and even Harry cheered at that.

“But, we have to make enough that we can eat them and take some to the party tomorrow night.”

Daisy followed Johannah into the kitchen, “Are we all going, mummy?”

“To Danika’s party? Yes, dear.” Johannah started on dinner and Louis, with Harry on his heels, followed.

“Need help, mum?”

“I would love some. Start on the chicken please, love.” Seeing Harry awkwardly lingering in the entryway she added, “Harry, love, go sit down. You’re a guest.”

“But I love cooking!” He blushed, “I wouldn’t mind helping.” Looking reluctant, Johannah gave in and he began to help Louis.

Johannah turned the oven on to preheat and Harry, in a small bowl mixed mayo, garlic powder and parmesan cheese. With a swish of his wand, Louis had a piece of parchment paper rip off and lay on top of a baking sheet. Another wave and the chicken floated off the counter and he laid them on the sheet.

“Show off…” Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t be jealous, love. You’ll get here one day.”

“Get lazy?”

“Ouch. The wounds are fresh.”

Grinning and grabbing a cooking brush, Harry painted the mixture onto the chicken before sprinkling the tops with salt and pepper.

“Louis?” Johannah asked, “Can you bring my potatoes to boil please, love?” Louis pointed his wand at the pot and immediately the water began to bubble and spit. With the three of them working together, they made quick work of making dinner and, within a half hour, the entire family was eating at the table.

With the promise of cookies lingering over the table, it seemed like no one wanted to gorge themselves and, shooting looks at each other, everyone carefully filled their plates, ate and thenrushed to clean up and put everything away, much to Johannah’s amusement.

When the kitchen was cleaned, the girls were sitting at the table. Lottie and Fizzy had grabbed some newspaper and laid it across the table for the cookies to lay on after they were done. They gave the girls their Lego Friends set, one that Louis didn’t know the name of but it had to do with race car driving.

With Johannah quickly dissolving an argument between the girls who played which character (“I wanna be Andrea!”) the baking started. Sugar and flour and baking soda. Melted bittersweet chocolate and powered sugar. Crushed oreos mixed with cream cheese and then refrigerated. It seemed there were no stopping the family and within hours, they had about a hundred cookies back, much to everyone’s delight.

“So how many do we get to eat?” Louis asked, reaching for an chocolate crinkle cookie. Lottie slapped his hand and pointed sternly at him.

  
Louis stuck his tongue out, “Guardian of the cookies or something?”

“Damn straight. Get your own cookies!”

“Hey, I baked! Look! I’m covered in flour. You were too busy being Emma!”

Huffing, Lottie corrected, “I was Mia and Fizzy was Emma, for your information!”

Harry smiled affectionately at Louis and said, “How about we each get a plate, one of each cookie on it and the rest go to the party?”

Louis opened his mouth to argue with his -fake- boyfriend when Johannah said, “Excellent idea, Harry! Alright Lottie, help me put the cookies into these cases for the party.” Sticking her tongue out at Louis, Lottie got up, grabbed a spatula and a case and began to scoop the cookies into the case, laying parchment paper between each layer.

Louis reached for a crinkle cookie but only succeeded in getting his hand smacked with the spatula and ice sugar on his finger tip. Sticking his finger into his mouth, he, absently, glanced over at Harry who was watching him with a glowing blush. Quickly Louis turned away, popping his finger out of his mouth and wiping it on his shirt.

Even though Louis was trying to strategically ignore him,, Harry bent low to catch his ear, “I wanna start my essay…”

Feeling oddly cold at the mention of why Harry was here with him, Louis nodded and said, “Mum, me and Harry have some homework we wanna start on. Well, that Harry should start on because he’s such a slacker. Are you alright with everything?”

Johannah, brushing icing sugar off Phoebe’s nose, laughed and said, “Of course, go do what you need too.” She then shot a wink at Louis, making his face flush.

“Mum!” he hissed but pushed Harry out of the kitchen, listening to the girls giggle as they left. Louis practically pushed Harry up the stairs to his bedroom. As soon as they were inside, Louis shut the door and threw himself onto his bed, groaning.

“Is it bad?”

Louis lifted his head off the bed, “Is what bad?”

“That your family thinks we… do stuff?”

“You mean fuck?”

Turning bright red, Harry nodded, “Yeah, that.”

Gulping, Louis considered his next answer very carefully, “It would be fine if we were actually fucking but because we’re just mates, it’s weird, yah know?”

“Yeah, mates.” Harry echoed and Louis narrowed his eyes.

“Right, you just needed a topic for your essay. I forgot.” He turned on the bed, facing his back to Harry. The two boys lapsed into silence, Louis silently stewing on the bed. Finally, the silent broke when a quill began to scribble against parchment and Louis pushed his face into his pillow, sighing.

He must have fallen asleep because the next time Louis opened his eyes, it was dark in the room. And there was no Harry next to him or at the desk. In a panic, Louis shot off the bed, kicking his legs onto the ground and hitting something. The something he hit grunted. Grabbing his wand, Louis cast a quick _Lumos_ and pointed it at the ground by his feet.

There was Harry. Dressed in a pair of sweat pants and no shirt, he was laying on the ground with nothing but a pillow.

“What are you doing!” Louis hissed, jabbing him with the tip of his wand.

Harry blinked sleepily at him, “You were mad at me but I didn’t want your mom and sisters seeing me on the couch.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “You’re an idiot, you could have just-,”

“You think that, don’t you!” Harry snipped.

Louis was taken aback by what he said. “What?” He asked.

“You think I’m an idiot. I’m not. I know that you and Niall were following me that day in Hogsmeade. I know that you were just toying with me to get me to agree to come with you and pretend to be your boyfriend because you’re too full of yourself to actually get one!”

Every word Harry was saying was stabbing into Louis, harder and harder until he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Finally, Louis banished the _Lumos_ and said, “Stay on the floor,” and rolled over, facing away from Harry once more.


End file.
